FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CUSTOM - PAGE 5

CARRINGTON, N.D. (AP) - With corn pushing $7 per bushel, is now a good time to be in the cattle business? Sure, if you're Jeff and Jona Kvamme, who purchased Pipestem Feeders LLC north of Carrington in March. The couple has managed the custom feeding facility since 2004 and has overseen its complete remodeling in the past four years. Among the 7,000 cattle they keep this winter will be up to 600 head from drought- and fire-stricken parts of Colorado and Wyoming. "They're either dried out or burned out and need a place to go," Jona says.

There are things wrong with today's world that I believe can be traced back to customs we have abandoned. For instance, we were a much more civilized society when men wore capes. Why did we ever give them up? Nothing lends a guy a sense of savoir-faire like a long, flowing cape. Plus, if it's red and has a big capital letter ?S? on it, you can fly. And whatever happened to plumed hats? You know, the kind of headgear that looks like it's the result of a horrible accident involving a pirate's cap and an ostrich.

Not as many people are eating Senior Meals, which is ?creating a real financial burden? for the program, says Area IV director Rick Pesek. Use of the service has declined over the past decade, but Pesek says the program has experienced a severe drop in meal participation during the last several months. The Area IV Senior Meals Program, a private, nonprofit corporation, provides lunch to 37 communities in 13 counties in northern South Dakota. In that area, the program is serving 80 fewer meals per day than expected.

More so than ever, soon-to-be-wed couples are establishing their own traditions by looking for ways to impart a custom feel into their weddings - without breaking the bank. Weddings have a tendency to be contagious, and chances are, you've already been invited to a number of weddings this year. After a while the same traditions can become tedious and routine. If you are planning your own wedding, you may be competing with others you know for unique ideas. Did you know that according to the latest findings, 2.4 million weddings occur annually?

The performance of Jim Witter: The Piano Men drew 682 people to the Civic Theatre Sunday night. We're very pleased, said Stacy Braun of the Aberdeen Area Arts Council, which presented the show. The Civic Theatre has a capacity of 1,589.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Customers of MF Global, the brokerage firm that imploded into bankruptcy last year, will meet publicly Thursday with a court-appointed official overseeing the dismantling of the company. The question still lurking behind the eighth-largest U.S. bankruptcy is what happened to the $1.2 billion that was discovered missing from customer accounts when MF Global failed Oct. 31. It is not expected to be answered Thursday in New York, when customers and other creditors can meet with James Giddens, the court-appointed trustee.

Aberdeen-area bank customers are reporting being called as part of a scam the state attorney general's office warned about. Cell phone consumers have reported fraudulent automated messages from someone claiming to be a Wells Fargo representative. The messages request a call back for a number of reasons, including having a debit or credit card reinstated, according to a news release. Once consumers return the call, they are asked to provide personal information including card and pin numbers.

It's tough to stroll through Aberdeen's Target these days without seeing shoppers with a Starbucks coffee in hand. Starbucks has been busy since opening inside Target, 3316 Seventh Ave. S.E., earlier this month, said Shawn Hoellein, Target's senior executive team leader-remodel. Throughout the day, people of all ages - from police officers in the morning to high school students after school - stop at the coffee shop that replaced Food Avenue just inside Target's main entrance, Hoellein said.